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People Aren’t Dumb, the World Is Hard

freakonomics.com

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Re: People Aren’t Dumb, the World Is Hard

#11

Post by 52-6F-62 »

aalleavitch wrote: post #2

We’re dumb in comparison to the systems we’ve created. Increasingly, the disparity between what our technology is capable of and our own limitations as animals will become a pressing issue. One thing that always bothers me is how we have this myth of personal responsibility that supposes an individual is equipped to defend their own interests against a multinational corporation on their own. “Well I just don’t get wh…

With you 100% on this one.

Your last illustration there reminds me a little of this:

https://www.npr.org/2018/07/08/627082032/1-year-old-shows-up...

>>>

His name is Johan.

He drank a bottle of milk and played with a purple ball as he waited for the immigration judge, The Associated Press reported.

John W. Richardson, the judge at the Phoenix courthouse, said he was "embarrassed to ask" if the defendant understood the proceedings. "I don't know who you would explain it to, unless you think that a 1-year-old could learn immigration law," he told Johan's attorney.

Re: People Aren’t Dumb, the World Is Hard

#12

Post by TeMPOraL »

cubano wrote: post #7
aalleavitch wrote: post #2

We’re dumb in comparison to the systems we’ve created. Increasingly, the disparity between what our technology is capable of and our own limitations as animals will become a pressing issue. One thing that always bothers me is how we have this myth of personal responsibility that supposes an individual is equipped to defend their own interests against a multinational corporation on their own. “Well I just don’t get wh…

Yet people have done and are doing it on a daily basis.

Do they now? Or are they just successful in areas where the corporation does not care, or even notice?

To paraphrase Eliezer's famous quote about AI - the Corporation does not hate you, nor does it love you; you're just a potential revenue source, and as long as it believes you'll net it something, it'll let you have your way.

Re: People Aren’t Dumb, the World Is Hard

#13

Post by s-shellfish »

aalleavitch wrote: post #2

We’re dumb in comparison to the systems we’ve created. Increasingly, the disparity between what our technology is capable of and our own limitations as animals will become a pressing issue. One thing that always bothers me is how we have this myth of personal responsibility that supposes an individual is equipped to defend their own interests against a multinational corporation on their own. “Well I just don’t get wh…

I think lots of people have been aware for a long time that there's a big gap between the individual understanding of what we can perceive machines (and institutions, philosophies based on their mechanical functioning) can do, versus what they do do.

It's just when you are caught up in it, you can't afford to think about it. You have to both be a part of it and not allow the responsibility of knowing you influence the system - therefore don't have the capacity to reason about the consequences of every single action - crush you.

It's more like you are the bear and you are trying to take care of a baby. There's the idea that you are just this tiny, little singular organism in comparison to the whole, but you aren't. Everything we do has consequences, everything we do directs systems. If you think some things you do just don't matter, you are missing some perspective.

Re: People Aren’t Dumb, the World Is Hard

#14

Post by howeyc »

This looks to be a bunch of discussion around receiving the Nobel prize.

Any pointers to where to find the information/studies that won him the prize. What people should/shouldn't be doing when making financial decisions. For instance, there was a reference to the fact that people "should ignore sunk costs" but don't. What are some other things to watch out for, and the reasons to do so?

Re: People Aren’t Dumb, the World Is Hard

#15

Post by mrlala »

aalleavitch wrote: post #2

We’re dumb in comparison to the systems we’ve created. Increasingly, the disparity between what our technology is capable of and our own limitations as animals will become a pressing issue. One thing that always bothers me is how we have this myth of personal responsibility that supposes an individual is equipped to defend their own interests against a multinational corporation on their own. “Well I just don’t get wh…

>We’re dumb in comparison to the systems we’ve created.

Not really, it's just that every single thing in the world that we have created is so incredibly complex that 99.99999% of people can't be specialized in more than one or two things.

When you dive into the details of any industry it's just crazy complex.

So yeah, we're dumb in the sense that no one person can even come close to managing all the systems we've created.. but that is an impossible metric.

Re: People Aren’t Dumb, the World Is Hard

#18

Post by ghaff »

howeyc wrote: post #14

This looks to be a bunch of discussion around receiving the Nobel prize. Any pointers to where to find the information/studies that won him the prize. What people should/shouldn't be doing when making financial decisions. For instance, there was a reference to the fact that people "should ignore sunk costs" but don't. What are some other things to watch out for, and the reasons to do so?

Thaler has written a couple of books. Nudge (with Cass Sunstein) focuses on how the "right" decisions can be "nudged" by setting up appropriate decision frameworks.

Misbehaving is more of a personal history of how he got to behavioral decision theory. I particularly enjoyed that because I had a couple classes with him when he was working on these ideas early on.

Re: People Aren’t Dumb, the World Is Hard

#19

Post by frgtpsswrdlame »

howeyc wrote: post #14

This looks to be a bunch of discussion around receiving the Nobel prize. Any pointers to where to find the information/studies that won him the prize. What people should/shouldn't be doing when making financial decisions. For instance, there was a reference to the fact that people "should ignore sunk costs" but don't. What are some other things to watch out for, and the reasons to do so?

Here's the lecture he's gave for the Nobel: https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economic-sciences/la...

If you're looking for information on nudges, check this: http://economicspsychologypolicy.blogspot.com/2013/08/nudge-...

It looks like they've stopped updating it but it has all sorts of economic research on nudges in it. Beware that some of this research is debated though.

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